By Victoria Ojeme

Barely a year after the introduction of the Mass Authentication Service (MAS) Truscan technology that enables consumers to enter twelve digit numbers and send same to a dedicated number via sms that equally responds via same sms – either in the negative or positive – about the genuineness of the product prospective consumers are receiving instant affirmation or revocation regarding the authenticity of drugs.

When MAS was introduced by the Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii, not a few Nigerians believed it would have any significant impact on the war against fake and adulterated drugs.

MAS is a mobile GSM solution system that empowers prospective drug consumers to detect if drugs are counterfeit at the point of purchase through text messages to a selected number at a cost to the consumer.

Explaining the rationale behind this innovation, Orhii said, “it is very difficult to identify fake medicine now. It used to be that when we were at the port, some times we had problems with the Nigerian Custom Service because they wanted the goods to be cleared within a short time, but we did not have a way of finding out whether the medicines that came in were fake or genuine, so it would take time.

“Sometimes when you take a medicine to the laboratory, it would take weeks or even months because of the backlog. So I had to find a way to quickly identify counterfeit medicine and I discovered that the US military had invented what is called the Truscan, a hand held device that can immediately tell you whether a product is genuine or fake”.

NAFDAC DG, Paul Orhi.

The NAFDAC boss disclosed that, Nigeria is the first country to deploy the technology strictly for the detection of fake or counterfeit drug, adding that the device was hitherto used in the US by pharmaceutical companies to verify the quality of their active ingredients.

“But as a medicine regulatory agency, we are the first in the world to use this Truscan and we have tremendous results” he enthused.

Indeed, the menace of fake and adulterated drugs in Nigeria has claimed many lives, crossing all the lines of class, ethnic and religious strata.

Of course, majority of the victims have been established to have come more from the socially disadvantaged group, particularly those who live in the rural areas, with little or no privileges of having multiple sales outlets for over-the-counter drugs.

The rural areas also bear the brunt of the consequences of fake drugs because of absence of regulators, whose limited resources and personnel are often spread thin in the discharge of their huge mandate.

Speaking on the consequences of counterfeit drugs on the health of Nigerian consumers, Executive Chairman of Greenlife Pharmaceuticals, makers of Lonart, Dr Obiora Chukwuka, affirmed that many innocent lives have indeed been lost as a result of the criminal faking of pharmaceutical products.

According to Chukwuka, “Disease sufferers are made to bear far greater burden than they ordinarily should, and sometimes innocent lives are lost due to the scourge of fake and unwholesome pharmaceutical products”.

Contrary to the often held view that counterfeit drugs are locally manufactured, Orhii said 70% of drugs consumed in Nigeria are imported with China and India having been identified as the hub of shipment of fake drugs into the country, and this is in spite of the stiff penalties against drug counterfeiting.

With global revenue of $200billion from fake and counterfeit drugs, there is indeed attractive incentive to continue in merchandizing deaths.

The increase in the global revenue in fake drugs manufacture in the words of the NAFDAC boss may have come about as a result of the, “entrance of drug barons into fake drugs business. It has become more sophisticated, more globalised and more militarized”.

The coming of Truscan, particularly from testimonies of both consumers and health sector operators, may soon turn Nigeria, a popular destination of choice for counterfeit drugs, into the night mare of fake drug makers.

The Nigerian share of the global revenue of fake drugs may shrink sooner than thought, because consumers are now empowered to make instant decisions to buy or not, just by sms at the point of purchase.

The loss of revenue arising from the decision not to buy after a snappy authentication of the genuineness or otherwise of a drug simply means that it would no longer be attractive to import such drugs into Nigeria.

Truscan for most consumers is easy to use because it does not require extensive education, but just the ability to be able to input the code into the phone. So for those familiar with the use of gsm phone, MAS is no different.

A Senior Pharmacist at the Wuse General Hospital, who spoke on the efficacy of the Truscan said, “Truscan is very effective, it is the best thing that has ever happened in the medical practice.

“It is helping us, pharmacists in our jobs; not just the pharmacists, but the patients are also getting value for their money and they also have confidence in the drugs they are taking,” he added.

The Pharmacist further described fake drugs counterfeiting as a heinous crime that should not be condoned by the society, saying, “the act is more than robbery.

An armed robber only come to steal and go, but a fake drug person is after your life, so we welcome this Truscan not just in drugs, but it should also be applied to foods, drinks and beverages that come into this country.

For his efforts, Orhii was recently elected as the Vice Chairman of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task-Force (IMPACT).

The election of the DG of NAFDAC is an eloquent testimony of the recognition of Nigeria’s global leadership role in the fight against drug counterfeiting under his watch.

For his leadership and strings of achievements since assuming leadership of NAFDAC, besides the many awards both locally and internationally, he was again recently invested with a leadership award by the New York based Youth for Human Rights International(YFHRI).

Orhii is a Pharmacologist, Physician, Biomedical Scientist, Attorney & Counselor at Law. He is also involved in charity, he recently sponsored a free eye care programme in his personal capacity in Bayelsa.